Hearts of Iron 4 first look: a slick return for the veteran WWII strategy series

[Regina]

"A buff 3.0 edition of the Clauswitz engine powers the sandbox. The oppressive grey backgrounds of old have been replaced by muted colours, and an adaptive interface that outlines and shades countries depending on your zoom level. A night/day sine wave washes slowly across the map, separating the brushed iron surface into sunlit and blue moonlit zones. The units are no longer featureless rectangles, but tiny models that can be guided around with multi-phase battle plans. These are sculpted with stretched, curving arrows and broken lines, depicting troop movements and battle lines respectively. I'm surprised Paradox haven't put out any screenshots yet; this is a very inviting strategy game."

Preview at PC Gamer:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/01/30/h...-for-the-veteran-world-war-2-strategy-series/

cheers,
regina

 

[Modestus]

The units are no longer featureless rectangles, but tiny models that can be guided around with multi-phase battle plans.

Preview at PC Gamer:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/01/30/h...-for-the-veteran-world-war-2-strategy-series/

cheers,
regina

View attachment 100371

What what

 

[Soulstrider]

I honestly hope they didn't remove Counters. I mean it doesn't even make sense saying that the units being models is a new feature since we had sprites all along.

 

[Cybvep]

Yes, this part is suspicious. I like counters and hope that we will still be able to use them in HOI4.

 

[DominusNovus]

What what

Yeah, they really gotta stop having people preview this game who clearly never played the previous entries, and just looked at screenshots of them.

Or, rather, stop posting those reviews.

 

[Adamus]

SHOW US THE MAP!!! Whats with all this "it looks beautiful" blah without actually showing us. [/frustration]

First time im excited about a HOI game though so thats a plus

 

[Forg]

" I'm surprised Paradox haven't put out any screenshots yet; this is a very inviting strategy game."

Is this a troll attempt?

 

[Fintilgin]

Counters better still be in.

Counters all day every day.

 

[jdavis86]

The espionage system and how it works with battle plans sounds awesome.

It's a delicate line between sandbox and plausibility. This stuff about Portugal stretched it a touch too far for me, but it sounds fun.

I wouldn't jump to any conclusions about counters. I prefer them as well. It's more fun seeing a more strategic overview of your troops.

That being said, sprites in HOI3 were always silly to me. So if they've found a more inviting alternative to counters, perhaps we'll like them.

 

[DominusNovus]

Counters better still be in.

Counters all day every day.

Day 1 Counter DLC. Calling it now.

Is this a troll attempt?

 

[htilden42]

The build on show was an early but shows plenty of promise, particularly in the accessibility of that appealing map - a problem point for past Paradox games, "The whole border system is newly developed for Hearts of Iron. You should be able to play almost the entire game on one map mode," Lind explains. Don't be surprised to see a similar system appearing in future editions of Hearts of Iron's sibling series, Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings.

I guess that sort of explains what Hint 3 is: we're going to have information conveyed via borders somehow.

I also really really REALLY doubt that they would take counters out. It would be counter-productive, pointless, and only serve to piss off the fanbase.

The bit about Portugal invading Australia (which could possibly be done via Portuguese Timor, I guess) and getting nuclear weapons is kind of silly, but then again, it may be that Portugal was only able to do that by investing everything into their nuclear programme and ignoring everything else.

 

[Bhaal]

I guess that sort of explains what Hint 3 is: we're going to have information conveyed via borders somehow.

I also really really REALLY doubt that they would take counters out. It would be counter-productive, pointless, and only serve to piss off the fanbase.

The bit about Portugal invading Australia (which could possibly be done via Portuguese Timor, I guess) and getting nuclear weapons is kind of silly, but then again, it may be that Portugal was only able to do that by investing everything into their nuclear programme and ignoring everything else.

The Portugal thing was already debunked here: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?752595-PC-Gamer-are-such-teases! Devs said that the person must have been taking about Hoi3 and Darkrenown said that nobody is playing Hoi4 yet. I almost jumped out of my chair when I read that, but it seems not to be the case. Also am 100% in support of counters, it would be ridiculous if they took them out.

 

[nigo]

bye bye Counters.

 

[htilden42]

The Portugal thing was already debunked here: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?752595-PC-Gamer-are-such-teases! Devs said that the person must have been taking about Hoi3 and Darkrenown said that nobody is playing Hoi4 yet. I almost jumped out of my chair when I read that, but it seems not to be the case. Also am 100% in support of counters, it would be ridiculous if they took them out.

Yeah, that sounds right. Given that Paradox hasn't done more than a 10 minute hands-off demo, it'd be highly unlikely that anyone's actually played a full campaign at this point.

bye bye Counters.

Given that whoever wrote the article can't even tell the difference between HoI3 and HoI4, I would take everything in the article not backed up somewhere else with a truckload of salt.

 

[iniudan]

Agree with the other, counter better still be there, it is actually lot easier quickly read the map with them once you know how they work.

 

[Bhaal]

bye bye Counters.

Hoi has always had both, why would this change?

 

[JustThatGuy]

No counters?

 

[KaiserJohanHome]

There HAS to be counters!

 

[Oorlog]

Stop teasing us and show us the map! oh and portugal needs a nerf if it can develop nukes on its own, because it would mean any decent minor could develop nukes.

 

[Fawr]

I though that the grey theme worked well, and I liked counters...

On the other hand I would like day/night to show up on the main map, and not just on the minimap. The idea about offensives being better if you planed them in advance sounds like added realism, but I hope its done in a way which doesn't need to much micro management.